A Singapore History Proposal: Where We Came From
by Janice Tan Siew Hong
Standing on a gangplank latched to one side of the pier is the lone figure of a girl. The Chinese junk that took her here has already left. They told her that this is Nanyang, the Chinese name for the Southern Ocean. It was Singapore, 1911. Her fellow passengers on board of the junk had already departed; some were picked up by their relatives, a few left on their own, while the most were rounded up by coolie masters who had paid for their journey from Canton, a southern province in China.
Her fourth aunt was supposed to be there to pick her up, but the girl had waited until the sun was about to set. There was no point in waiting any longer.
The trepidation of stepping into a completely new place, a new life, was rather daunting for a sixteen year old. However, it was balanced out by the fear of being alone in the almost deserted harbor, under darkening skies, and the girl took her first step towards the shore….
All this while, a fisherman further up the shore was quietly mending his fishnets. He noticed a girl all by herself at the pier. And it was getting dark. He wanted to ask if everything is alright, but remembered that his father had always told him to mind his own business. But when a silhouette approached him in cautious steps, he could not have done nothing.
It was that girl, and she held up her left hand holding on to a piece of paper bearing what appeared to be a street name. She needed help, and the fisherman had by then decided that he had to be the one to lend a hand. Not able to read, he first took the girl on his bicycle to the shopkeeper around the corner of the street. She sells newspapers. She should be able to read, the fisherman thought.
When she was handed to note with the address written in Chinese characters on it, the Indian shopkeeper smiled and gave the fisherman the direction in fluent Malay. The girl was bewildered. She had never seen an Indian before, not to mention one who was able to read Chinese. The shopkeeper spoke, and told her that the fisherman was willing to take her to the place, as it is not more than 10 kilometers from where they were. The girl felt a great relief, but was even more bewildered. The shopkeeper could speak Cantonese too….
The script is about the origin of Singaporeans. We are a nation of immigrants with a very recent history. The documetary plot will follow the lives of three people – the newly-arrived Chinese girl, the Malay fisherman who took over the family trade, and the widowed Indian lady who tended a small newspaper shop. It is an intertwining story of how these individuals made their living in a newfound land, the motivations that brought them here to this tiny island, and how they made the British colony then their home.
The choice to have the story take place before the independence of Singapore was a difficult one to make. However, I feel that the origins and make-up of the Singapore ‘nation’ precedes the country’s independence in 1965. In other words, the character, the collective will, the shared history and the sense of belonging, all the necessary ingredients of a ‘nation’, pre-determines the shape and existence of the country.
Historical accounts could be written focusing on the heroes who had made the difference. Though many heroes could be identified during this period, the main characters in this documentary should not be one of them. There are already many different versions of Singapore history illustrated through either biographies of these famous people or simply chronological accounts deduced from significant events.
Another documentary along similar lines, will just become another one of those. Writing the script from a commoner’s viewpoint will present Singapore’s history from a Singaporean’s perspective. It will be our history. This would be a documentary with a human touch, one that illustrates the common sentiments that people of the past had.
The main theme of this documentary will be centered on that fact that Singapore was a land of immigrants, and will continue to be. While not unique, this is nonetheless a crucial characteristic of Singapore, a land that flourishes by the endless influx of migrants who came before – and are still arriving – to settle in a new home.
The plot will unfold with this characteristic as the backdrop, as we watch the interaction between our main characters and the significant events of Singapore’s history. Mere mention of such events will not be able to engage the viewers. It is the interaction between the different races that will give a wider perspective of Singapore history. These immigrants, who are the heart-landers, are the people who constitute and create the history of the land. Their life experiences are our history.
Each of their lives is a small paragraph in the Singapore history. When they depart, so might their stories. Therefore, the most crucial point of this documentary is to retain their stories, to preserve our history.
I wasn’t born here you know. I was born in Canton, a small village…..Till this day I still do not forgive my fourth aunt for playing mahjong and forgetting to pick me up (smiles)… Where is home for me now? Here of course.
My Grandma 1895 to 1987
The author is a first-year Business student in the National University of Singapore.